The 47th Greater Victoria Flower count ended Wednesday with nearly 28 billion blossoms — 27,875,292,158 to be exact — counted during the week-long event.
Colwood won the title of “bloomingest” community this year with 9.64 billion blossoms counted. Saanich was the runner up with 9.25 billion blossoms.
“Colwood is blooming proud!” said Mayor Rob Martin. “We’ll be planting a new cherry tree to celebrate our amazing community and the balmy climate we are blessed to enjoy here so that we can continue our blossom counting winning ways in the future.”
Elementary school children also participated in the light-hearted annual event, sponsored by Destination Greater Victoria and the Greater Victoria Chamber of Commerce, among others.
The winning elementary class is Ashley Close’s class at Prospect Lake Elementary School in Saanich, which counted 2.51 billion blossoms. The students won a pass to the Malahat Skywalk.
“Congratulations to Colwood and Ms. Ashley Close’s class on winning this year’s Greater Victoria Flower Count,” said Paul Nursey, chief executive officer of Destination Greater Victoria. “This was a special flower count for the visitor economy. We are welcoming back visitors with open arms and want them to enjoy everything Greater Victoria has to offer.”
“It was great to see our community come together for another successful Greater Victoria Flower Count,” said Bruce Williams, chief executive officer of the Greater Victoria Chamber of Commerce. “The blooms were out and residents responded by submitting their counts from across the region.”